Authorities are searching for a remote corner of the Amazon to find a British journalist and a missing Brazilian indigenous expert are investigating possible human remains and a place where there appears to be something buried, officials said on Friday.
Fears have risen over the fate of 57-year-old Dom Phillips and 41-year-old Bruno Pereira, a respected indigenous people specialist, who have been missing since receiving threats during a research trip to the Javari Valley in Brazil, a remote jungle region that has seen an increase in illegal fishing, logging, mining and drug trafficking.
Authorities have arrested a 41-year-old suspect named Amarildo da Costa de Oliveira, nicknamed “Pelado”, who according to witnesses chased the men upstream. A blood stain found on a canvas of his ship has been sent for analysis to the criminal laboratory in Manaus, the capital of the state of Amazonas.
Emergency chief Geonivan Maciel said investigators now had a new clue to the case: a suspicious “overturned” site in a community called Cachoeira, on the banks of the Itaquai River, where the men were seen. for the last time.
“It’s like someone dug something in the place, buried something in it,” Maciel said.
“We’re going to do a background check to see … We can’t say there’s any definitive evidence, but we’ll see if there’s anything that can identify anything about the two missing men.”